memeorandum: The Year in Review — How weird a year was it? Here's how weird: (Dave Barry/Washington Post)

8:20 PM ET, December 28, 2008

Top Items:

Egyptians open fire on Palestinians — Egyptian border guards have opened fire on Palestinians who breached the border to escape Israel's assault on Hamas in the Gaza Strip. — An Egyptian security official said there were at least five breaches along the nine-mile border and hundreds of Palestinian residents were pouring in.

Discussion: Jerusalem Post, Associated Press, Chicago Boyz, AmSpecBlog and A Blog For All

Ezra Klein / American Prospect:

ISRAEL, WRONG. — This is the paragraph that I can't get out of my head: … No deaths and few injuries. “Deeply disturbing.” Hamas lacks the technology to aim its rockets. They're taking potshots. In response, the Israeli government launched air strikes that have now killed …

Discussion: American Power, Associated Press, Mondoweiss, TPMCafe and Ynetnews

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:

Marty Peretz and the American political consensus on Israel — (updated below - Update II) — Opinions about the Israeli-Palestinian dispute are so entrenched that any single outbreak of violence is automatically evaluated through a pre-existing lens, shaped by one's typically immovable beliefs …

Discussion: J Street, The Other McCain, Fox News, Bloomberg, American Power, ATTACKERMAN, The Huffington Post, Jihad Watch, Newshoggers.com and Mondoweiss

Jerusalem Post:

‘Hamas could have prevented massacre’ — Hamas could have prevented the “massacre” in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said Sunday in Cairo. — “We spoke to them and told them ‘Please, we ask you not to end the cease-fire. Let it continue,’” …

Discussion: Associated Press, Hot Air, Power Line, Lawyers, Guns and Money, QandO, Israel Matzav, Commentary, The Muqata, Mere Rhetoric, Macsmind and Jules Crittenden

Greg Mitchell / The Huffington Post:

Attack on Gaza: As Usual, U.S. Media (And Most Liberals) Silent — As Israeli Newspaper Raises Doubts — In the usual process, the U.S. government, media here — and most liberal bloggers — are silent or playing down questions about whether Israel overreacted in its massive air strikes on Gaza …

Discussion: The Independent, his vorpal sword, D-Day, Firedoglake, Israel Matzav and Stop The ACLU

Daniel Levy / Prospects for Peace:
What next on Gaza/Israel and Why Americans Should Care

Discussion: juancole.com, American Footprints, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Commentary, theheretik.us, War and Piece, Los Angeles Times and Associated Press

Mike Allen / The Politico:
Playbook - 23 days to Inauguration - Gaza is ‘First test for Obama’ …

Discussion: MSNBC, Swampland, New York Times, Times of London and AmSpecBlog

Hana Levi Julian / Arutz Sheva:
Hizbullah Vows to Open Second Front in Gaza Conflict

Discussion: Atlas Shrugs, Israel Matzav and Ynetnews

Jerusalem Post:
Artillery batteries deployed along border with Gaza Strip

Discussion: Aljazeera, Ynetnews, Israpundit, Commentary, Yourish.com, The Huffington Post, Haaretz, Israel Matzav, Associated Press and Harry's Place

New York Times:
Israeli Attacks in Gaza Strip Continue for Second Day

Discussion: Haaretz, International Herald Tribune, LT Nixon Rants, Jerusalem Post, The Caucus, Associated Press, I*Consult, Mondoweiss, Ynetnews, Power Line, Think Progress, Outside The Beltway and Word on the Street

BBC:
Israeli jets target Gaza tunnels

Discussion: Associated Press, Doug Ross, Xinhua News Agency, Global Voices Online, BlogHer, Jihad Watch, Agence France Presse, New York Times, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, Atlas Shrugs, Israpundit, Gateway Pundit, Yourish.com and bint battuta in bahrain

Carol E. Lee / The Politico:

Obama bristles as the bubble closes in on him — HONOLULU - The media glare, the constant security appendage and the sheer production that has become a morning jog or a hankering for an ice cream cone - it's been closing in on Barack Obama for some time. — Now the president-elect appears …

Discussion: TigerHawk, RedState, The Impolitic and THE CUNNING REALIST

Michael Goodwin / NY Daily News:

Goodwin: Say goodnight, Caroline — In the beginning, just three long weeks ago, the idea of Caroline Kennedy being a United States senator had a certain ring to it. The Camelot myth still has shelf life and a merger with the historic Obama presidency provided an intriguing story line.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, San Francisco Chronicle, RBO, Hot Air and JammieWearingFool

Anne Glusker / Washington Post:

She's a Kennedy, But She's a Lot Like Us — Amid all the recent buzz about Caroline Kennedy's bid for a U.S. Senate seat, there has been a great deal of talk about her connections, her power, her wealth. But the way I see it, if you strip away the glamour, the name and the money, then Caroline is . . . me.

Discussion: Commentary and NewsBusters.org

New York Times:
Transcript of the Caroline Kennedy Interview

Discussion: New York Post, Gawker, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Michael Calderone's Blogs

Dave Barry / Washington Post:

The Year in Review — How weird a year was it? Here's how weird: — O.J. actually got convicted of something. — Gasoline hit $4 a gallon — and those were the good times. — On several occasions, “Saturday Night Live” was funny. — There were a few days there in October …

Discussion: Extreme Mortman

CBS News:

Condoleezza Rice: “I'm Not A Type A” — Outgoing Secretary Of State Shares Thoughts With Sunday Morning … She's been called the administration's “warrior princess,” the true believer who's visited scores of countries, traveling a million miles to implement, explain, and defend, president George W. Bush's foreign policy.

Discussion: Associated Press, The Raw Story, theheretik.us, Jezebel and Think Progress

CNN:

Rice: People will soon thank Bush for what he's done — (CNN) — Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that despite President Bush's low approval ratings, people will soon “start to thank this president for what he's done.” — “So we can sit here and talk about the long record …

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Maria Panaritis / Philly.com:

Cars leaving lots without drivers — A half-dozen trailers rolled up to Eckenhoff Cadillac Buick Pontiac GMC in Jenkintown bright and early and wiped the lot clean of $8.4 million in inventory - Hummers, Cadillacs and all. — “Load up, leave. Load up, leave. . . .” …

Discussion: Angry Bear

Thomas L. Friedman / New York Times:

Win, Win, Win, Win, Win ... How many times do we have to see this play before we admit that it always ends the same way? — Which play? The one where gasoline prices go up, pressure rises for more fuel-efficient cars, then gasoline prices fall and the pressure for low-mileage vehicles vanishes …

Discussion: EconLog

Christopher Booker / Telegraph:

2008 was the year manmade global warming was disproved — Looking back over my columns of the past 12 months, one of their major themes was neatly encapsulated by two recent items from The Daily Telegraph. — The first, on May 21, headed “Climate change threat to Alpine ski resorts” …

Discussion: Power Line, Deltoid, The Strata-Sphere, EU Referendum, Gateway Pundit, Liberal Values, Wake up America, Stop The ACLU, Tim Blair, Scared Monkeys and NewsBusters.org

NY Daily News:

Bernie's funda-mental defense — If you thought Bernard Madoff's $50 billion investment scheme was audacious, get ready for his alibi. Lawyers for the accused scammer are exploring an insanity defense, we hear. — “Bernie's family and his attorneys may argue that, somewhere along the line …

Discussion: Gawker and Truthdig

David Neiwert / Crooks and Liars:

Immigration hypocrisy: Because it's so much easier to just harass Latinos — Last year, Arizona enacted one of those anti-immigration laws that actually tried to address the employer side of the equation, ostensibly cracking down on the businesses that hire illegal immigrants.

Discussion: Arizona Republic